Kid, the next time I say, "Let's go someplace like Bolivia," let's GO someplace like Bolivia.

Main menu

Now showing on cable: “Unstoppable”

Premiering this weekend and now making its rounds on HBO was Tony Scott’s “Unstoppable”, starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The 2010 action films tells the story of a runaway train loaded with hazardous materials, speeding unattended towards residential areas through rural Pennsylvania.

Scott is no stranger to action films, having helmed such films as “Top Gun”, “Crimson Tide”, and “Man on Fire”. He’s also the man behind the Tarantino penned “True Romance”.

So with Scott at the helm and Washington in the lead, one can expect a pretty good movie, right?

Well, they were both behind the remake of “Pelham 123″…

This time however, they deliver.

Due to the incompetence of a fat, lazy employee, a train carrying a full contingent of cars begins to roll down the tracks unattended. It’s also missing a key safety component – the air brakes are uncoupled. The train pulls out of the yard and begins to gain speed. When early attempts to board the train in motion fail, the train company pulls out all the stops, calling the cops, sending in helicopters and other trains, trying anything they can to stop the train.

Because, of course, it’s not just any train, it has several cars full of explosive, toxic materials.

Washington and Pine are two engineers operating another locomotive. When the situation begins to unfold, they need to save their own train first, then find a way to stop the runaway.

The two of them have good chemistry together. In fact, the entire cast represents well. None of the characters are the most developed in the world or anything, but they’re given the requisite action movie families to watch the action unfold on tv with concerned look.

There are elements which seem a little contrived (above and beyond the high concept, LOL), but the movie never loses you to disbelief. It maintains enough realism to keep you buying in and letting Scott and the solid cast deliver a unique, entertaining action movie.

You know? I must have missed the “Based on a true story” or whatever they used. When you posted that I was like… nah…. cant be.

But it was! I checked Wikipedia and apparently, quite a bit of it actually did happen. Of course, they’re quick to note that most of it was oversensationalized for Hollywood purposes, but hey. Of course it was.

Every time I saw a commercial for this movie, I figured it would be the biggest piece of shit since… well, the last Tony Scott movie. I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it. It didn’t try to be anything more than it was: an action movie.

The Pelham 123 remake was so much better than this. I didn’t hate Unstoppable it was just the same old crap we see time and time again, except it was kind of fun. Also, Tony Scott needs to stop taking drugs before when he’s filming a movie. Good Stuff Dan!